Jul. 2, 2008 - Another Giveaway

Jun. 25, 2008 - Homeschool Conference Memphis, TN

May. 27, 2008 - Item of the Week 2

May. 26, 2008 - Daily Planet Hosting a Giveaway

May. 11, 2008 - Happy Mother's Day!!!

May. 7, 2008 - Giveaway at Clan McLeod

May. 5, 2008 - Item of the week

Apr. 30, 2008 - Mother's Day Gifts

Apr. 27, 2008 - Keeping This Place Clean

In my efforts to go "Green"  and celebrate Earth Day we decide to go to a solid waste facility.  We don't think about where our trash goes once it leaves our home, but we were able to follow the trash from our home to the waste facility, which gave us a better view of what goes on when the trash "goes away."   We were able to see garbage trucks and how they work, the area where they dump trash and the largest trash compactor I have ever seen. 

 We were suprised to find out that all waste facilities by law, have to recycle a percentage of it's intake.  That's something we didn't do personally, but started doing since visiting the facility.  Our tour guide was very informative and helpful as to the things that could and could not be recycled.  He spoke of how our earth would be effected if we didn't recycle. Here is a list of the commonly recycled items.

I wanted to share with you a few websites that inspired us start "going green:"

• Do Something
• Recycle City
• 21 Things you didn't know you can recycle
• Recylcing Basics for the Home
• How to recyle everything

I know you may be thinking what does this have to do with Homeschool Boutique??  Well lots... in my efforts to move toward a more "green" lifestyle, I've decided to make a few changes in my business to save on waste:

• Use my dry erase board instead of all my little note pads
• Use a paper shredder
• Use a large recylced bag to pick-up product instead of plastic bags
• Reuse as much as possible
• Use plastic cups instead of styrofoam
• Since I only throw paper in my business garbage cans don't use any plastic liners for the cans
• Instead of throwing unwanted items away, Freecycle them

 I want to leave you with this scripture and a note for thought.

       Then will all your people be righteous
       and they will possess the land forever.
       They are the shoot I have planted,
       the work of my hands,
       for the display of my splendor.   Isaiah 60:21

Our earthly home was built by God and one of our chores while here is to keep this place clean and teach our children how to as well. My hopes are that you do some small thing to help display His splendor in yourself and our earth.

Blessings,

Apr. 4, 2008 - Homeschool Share

Apr. 2, 2008 - Homeschool T-shirt Giveaway

I don't know why I didn't think about posting this sooner, but  Maria at Homeschool Math is hosting a Homeschool Boutique giveaway.  It ends on April 5th, so be sure to go over and post your "wish list item"  from Homeschool Boutique to her blog.

Blessings,

THill

Mar. 31, 2008 - Early Bird or Night Owl

As hard as I've tried, I have never been an early bird.  I remember when I was growing up, my dad use to always tell me, "the early bird gets the worms and the late bird finds the early birds scraps." So for years I have had a bad complex about going to bed late and waking up late.  I have now passed this to my kids and I'm not quite sure how to shake it.  I school in the evenings 1 because I go to bed to late, 2 because we get up late, and 3 because my husband is home during the day and works in the evenings.   Not necessarily in that order, but those are the reasons we school in the evenings.

I've always wanted to be like the ladies who can get up at 5:30 7:00 in the morning happy and excited about life, taking walks in the morning or having early morning bible reading and prayer time.  I get up around 10:00 sometimes a little earlier, but I'm dragging out of bed. My kids are usually up right before me or a little after me. 

We have a neighbor that homeschools her 6 kids and she is up at the crack of dawn, she will call around 8:30 in the morning and I'm trying to take every sound of sleep out of my voice.  I just decided to tell her a few days ago, I'm not a morning person, I don't get out of bed until around 10:00 or so.  You could have heard a pin drop when I said that.  But she did surprise me when she said, " girl, why didn't you tell me I've been calling you 8:00 since I've moved here."  She said she did wonder why I  never called her until after 11:00.  We both laughed and she said if her kids would let her should would sleep a little later too.

I've decided I'm going to be a proud night owl and I'm on a quest to find other night owls, so I have been blog hopping to see if there are any other night owls.  I guess that's a topic too many people aren't  talking about or I just couldn't find a lot of them.  But for now meet another night owl Dell, I know her personally, it's not unusual for her to send me a message at 2:00 in the morning.  Stop by and read her funny, funny accounts of her daily life.  Please feel free to comment if your a night owl. 

Mar. 26, 2008 - A BIG Thanks!

I just want to add a quick entry and say thank you to Ali of Mission Field Designs on a blog well done!  She did a great job on my blog, and from what I can see she has been swamped.  Ali, be sure to pace yourself and I pray that God will bless you and your business abundantly! 

Mar. 25, 2008 - Getting to know us

We are a Christian homeschooling family of five years. We have three girls and one boy.  We started homeschooling as a result of problems in our local school.  Our children are a true blessing to us and working with them over these past years has been extremely rewarding.  My husband is the best!  He is the most caring, gentle, and supportive person I know and I'm so blessed that he is MINE! 

We started our business Homeschool Boutique a year ago as a frustrated hobby, because when we were out during the day, we were always asked why our kids were not in school. We decided to make t-shirts that said, " Yes, I'm homeschooled. Yes, I'm socialized. Yes, I had class today." Those are the infamous questions homeschoolers everywhere are asked often. This shirt is now our best seller.

So today, we are a happy business knowing that we are not only giving the homeschooling community stylish, fun, and wholesome clothes to wear, but offering clothes and accessories that homeschool parents can feel great about.

My hope is that you can take this journey with us, from this small start-up business to my dream of a company that employs lots of homeschool moms.  I've always wanted my own business and it took years for me to find something that I not only believed in, but something I could do with my family.

 Now, that we have completed our first year in business and finishing up our 5th year of homeschooling, we are going to work on smoothing out the rough edges.  So come on,  join us on our adventure.

Blessings,

Thill and the gang.